A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, said the attacks raise serious questions about whether the principles of proportionality and precaution were respected under international humanitarian law, noting that the oil depots struck “do not appear to be of military exclusive usage.”

Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the burning of depots has released hydrocarbons, sulphur oxides, and nitrogen compounds into the atmosphere. The released pollutants have caused darkened skies in Tehran, prompting authorities to adviseresidents to remain indoors due to respiratory risks.

Israeli strikes on March 7 targeted roughly 30 fuel depots in Tehran. Washington was given advance notice, but US officials said the scale of the operation exceeded expectations, marking the first significant disagreement between the allies since the conflict began.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said the agency has also verified 13 attacks on health-care facilities in Iran since the new conflict opened. The attacks have killed and injured first responders, including paramedics. WHO officials say the disruption has blocked access to approximately $18 million in humanitarian health supplies, with an additional $8 million in shipments unable to reach regional distribution hubs.

According to the UN Children’s Fund, supply routes for food and medical aid are already being disrupted as shipping lines divert around conflict zones. Aid officials say delays could worsen child malnutrition in vulnerable communities, including among Afghan refugees living in Iran.

The conflict is beginning to threaten the entire region’s energy infrastructure. Iranian drones struck oil storage tanks at the Port of Salalah in Oman, where civil defense crews are attempting to contain fires at the facility. Earlier attacks targeted fuel infrastructure at Oman’s Port of Duqm, another key export hub, actually outside the choke-point Strait of Hormuz. Iranian officials have warned that continued attacks on energy infrastructure could trigger retaliation across the region, including potential strikes on oil facilities belonging to other Gulf states.

Meanwhile, the direct human toll continues to grow. UNICEF reports that approximately 180 children have been killed since hostilities escalated, including dozens in a strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran. UN agencies say the environmental damage, civilian casualties, and attacks on infrastructure could have long-term consequences for public health, humanitarian access, and regional stability as the conflict intensifies.

From JURIST, March 12. Used with permission.

The February 28 attack in the southern coastal city of Minab reportedly killed 168 people. According to Iran’s Minister of Education Alireza Kazemi, the overwhelming majority of the slain were schoolgirls aged seven to 12. The strike came on the first day of coordinated US and Israeli airstrikes officially targeting Iranian infrastructure and military facilities.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, described the attack as “absolutely horrific,” adding that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk was “deeply shocked” and has called for a “prompt, impartial and thorough investigation.”

Shamdasani stressed that the “onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it,” and “make public the findings and to ensure accountability and redress for the victims.” If attacks were found to be directed against civilians or civilian objects or to be indiscriminate, they would constitute “serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.”

Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Ali Bahreini, accused the US and Israel of deliberately attacking the school. He further stated that similar strikes on civilian targets occurred on the same day in other locations, including eastern Tehran and Abyek in Qazvin province.

Neither the US nor Israel has confirmed responsibility for the school attack. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated Monday that US forces “would not deliberately target a school.” Israeli officials said they were reviewing reports of the incident.

The widening conflict began when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian targets Feb. 28, cutting short ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks against Israel and US allies across the region. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in the first day of airstrikes .

According to UN officials, at least 12 countries have been affected, while Iran’s Red Crescent Society has counted 787 deaths since the initial strikes.

The conflict has also spread to Lebanon as Hezbollah fired missiles and drones into Israel, triggering Israeli strikes and the displacement of civilians. The UN Refugee Agency estimatesthat about 30,000 people have sought protection in shelters in Lebanon, while disruptions in key shipping routes and the temporary closure of Gaza crossings are complicating humanitarian aid deliveries.

When the airstrikes began, Türk deplored both the strikes on Iran and subsequent retaliation, urging all parties to respect international humanitarian law. “The protection of civilians is paramount,” he said, calling for immediate de-escalation and a return to the “negotiating table” to prevent “further senseless civilian deaths and destruction on a potentially unimaginable scale.”

Malala Yousafzai, UN Messenger of Peace and Nobel Peace Laureate, also condemned the school attack, likewise calling for all parties to “uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and safeguard schools.”

From JURIST, March 4. Used with permission.

Photo: Mehr via Wikimedia Commons

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk deplored the strikes, noting that the parties “had been actively seeking a solution only hours earlier.” He stated that “bombs and missiles are not the way to resolve differences but only result in death, destruction and human misery,” and warned that continued escalation “risks an even wider conflict, that will inevitably lead to further senseless civilian deaths and destruction on a potentially unimaginable scale, not just in Iran but across the Middle East region.” He reminded all parties that under international humanitarian law, “the protection of civilians is paramount” and that violations “must lead to accountability.”

The strikes came 48 hours after the conclusion of a third round of US-Iran indirect nuclear negotiations in Geneva, mediated by Oman, that had produced what multiple parties described as an unprecedented breakthrough. The bombardment appears to have killed not only Iranian civilians, but also the potential for the strongest nuclear agreement ever negotiated with Iran.

Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi told CBS News Feb. 27 that Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium, with existing stockpiles to be down-blended to the lowest possible level and converted into irreversible reactor fuel under full International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verification. “The single most important achievement, I believe, is the agreement that Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb,” Albusaidi said, describing the understanding as “something completely new,” stronger than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated under Obama.

Albusaidi said that technical discussions with the IAEA had been scheduled for the following week in Vienna. Broad political components of a deal “can be agreed tomorrow,” Albusaidi said, with implementation related to stockpiles, verification, and access achievable within 90 days. He was unequivocal: “I don’t think any alternative to diplomacy is going to solve this problem.” He warned that military action would only “complicate resolving this problem and delay it.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi responded to the US-Israel strikes by raising a question that indeed demands an answer: “I do not know why the US administration insists on beginning a negotiation with Iran and then attacking Iran in middle of talks.”

— Pitasanna Shanmugathas for JURIST, March 1, excerpt. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Image: Grunge Love via Flickr

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also issued a statement expressing concerns over the development, stating:

[N]uclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment. Such attacks have serious implications for nuclear safety, security and safeguards, as well as regional and international peace and security.

Grossi confirmed that the Natanz nuclear site had been impacted, with the Isfahan and Fordow sites also expected to be targeted. He emphasized that “any armed attack on and threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes” is a violation of the UN Charter, and the Statue of the IAEA, as stipulated in the agency’s previous resolutions, namely GC(XXIX)/RES/444 and GC(XXXIV)/RES/533.

Iran ratified the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) in 1970 as one of the original signatories, and also concluded a Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA, which entered into force in 1974. Since Iran’s disclosure of its nuclear program in 2002, it has been repeatedly found to be in breach of international safeguard agreements. The nuclear program is also at issue in diplomatic tension between the US and Iran. With the Israeli strikes, Iran has withdrawn from the next round of nuclear talks scheduled for Oman.

In an official statement released shortly after Israel launched its assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) justified the attack as a “preemptive strike,” citing that Iran’s nuclear program has “reached the point of no return.”

Israel’s assertion follows a resolution adopted by the IAEA’s Board of Governors just hours before the air-strikes began, which found that Iran had breached its NPT obligations by conducting secret activities involving undeclared nuclear material at three locations. The board urged Iran to immediately remedy non-compliance with its Safeguards Agreement by taking all necessary measures and engaging in constructive diplomatic dialogue with the US to address international concerns related to Iran’s nuclear activities.

From JURIST, June 13. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Map: PCL

Among those transferred was Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj, who, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), has been held for 23 years without being charged with any crime. The CCR also noted that Sharqawi was subject to torture by the CIA before being sent in 2004 to Guantanamo, where he conducted several hunger strikes in protest of his indefinite detention. Amnesty International welcomed the DoD’s decision to release him and the other prisoners, urging US President Joe Biden to transfer the remaining Guantanamo detainees who haven’t been charged with crimes.

Ten of the detainees were transferred through the PRB process established by Executive Order 13567, titled “Periodic Review of Individuals Detained at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station Pursuant to the Authorization for the Use of Military Force.” The remaining detainee, named Tawfiq Nasir Awad Al-Bihani, was transferred under Executive Order 13492.

Executive Order 13492 was issued by former President Barack Obama in 2009 and ordered the closure of detention facilities at US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. Obama also signed Executive Order 13567 in 2011, which established a periodic review process to be conducted by the PRB. The latter provides an administrative process to assess whether the detention of an individual at Guantanamo is necessary to protect the national security of the US. After its review, the PRB can either recommend continued detention under the law of war or authorize the detainee’s transfer.

The decision to transfer the 11 is part of ongoing efforts by the US to reduce the number of individuals detained in Guantanamo, paving the way for the eventual closure of the facility. With this transfer, the DoD reduced the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay by more than half, leaving only 15 in the detention center. This follows the recent transfers of two detainees to Malaysia in December and the repatriation of detainee Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi to Tunisia.

The military prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba was established by President George W. Bush in 2002 in response to the al-Qaeda attacks against the US on Sept. 11, 2001. The detention facility has faced consistent international criticism over claims of human rights abuses from rights groups and international organizations. The United Nations Human Rights Council has called for its closure.

From JURIST, Jan. 7. Used with permission.

Note: In the nearly 23 years the Guantánamo detention center has been operating, a total of 780 prisoners have been held there. Nine men have died at the facility, and the two convicts being held there are among a total of eight detainees convicted by military tribunals, with four of those convictions later overturned.

Photo: Gino Reyes/Wikimedia Commons

Map: PCL

Meanwhile, on March 15 opposition activists held a demonstration in Idlib city, within Syria’s diminished pocket of rebel control, marking the 12th anniversary of the revolution. Thousands gathered under the Free Syria flag in the city’s center, to proclaim that the revolution survives and to oppose normalization of the regime. (Syria Direct)

Photo: Syrian Revolution commemoration in Times Square, NYC. Via Syria Solidarity NYC

The Sri Lanka naval deal was announced along with a donation of new patrol boats to the Philippines, part of growing Chinese military aid to Manila. This relationship comes despite Manila's claim to China-held islands in the South China Sea. 

China has also gained access to facilities in the Maldives, Seychelles and Oman as part of the maritime component of its Silk Road trade and infrastructure initiative (also dubbed the Belt and Road Initiative). The Pakistani port of Gwadar has also been incorporated into the Maritime Silk Road, as China is investing in the strategic TAPI pipeline project through Pakistan. To secure these interests, Islamabad has allowed Chinese military forces into the Himalayan territory of Gilgit.

Similarly, in addition to developing port terminals in Burma under the Silk Road project, China has established a military listening post in Burma's Coco Islands. Leaders in Bangladesh have gone to great pains to emphasize that there is no militayr component to China's Silk Road port facility under contstruction in Chittagong.

While the Silk Road is an ostensibly civilian project, China has also established its first foreign military base at Djibouti, leading Western wonks to warn that Beijing is seeking a "string of pearls" network of bases across the Indian Ocean. (SCMP, SCMP, SCMP, NYT, The Diplomat, The Diplomat, Nikkei Asian Review, China Daily, Daily Star, Bangladesh, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi)

Map via CIMSEC

From Jurist, Jan. 14. Used with permission.

From Jurist, June 13. Used with permission.